"Rare Earth" Halloween and Gabby's Cake

I love to stop in at "Rare Earth Designs" this time of year. Their Halloween displays are out of this world.

They have unique items you just don't see anywhere else.

For those who haven't been before, it's at the Ridgefield Junctions, just off I-5.

I had to show you this darling cake my grand daughter made for her Grandpa who wanted a "Halloween Birthday Cake".

This is the baker - Gabrielle! This cake was right up her alley. She loves skeletons and skulls and gothic influences AND she is beginning her career as a baker!  Thanks for visiting...see you soon.          -Derrith

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Welcome visitors from the Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2012  Thank you, Amy for hosting.   This quilt I recently finished is my entry. It was a big project for me. The pattern is called "The Joy of Life" by Rosalie Quinlan. I changed the colors a bit...added in some blue to blend better with my living room colors. The finished size is 60 X 60.

I decided to do all the applique with a blanket stitch, except for the stems which are bias tubes, so they were blind stitched down. I would classify this as an Appliqued Quilt. This was machine quilted by Roberta Peterson.

This was the first time I had used such a large variety of background fabrics. I do think it adds a lot of interest and movement to it.

I was determined to make the entire quilt from fabric I already had on hand and nearly accomplished that. Really, I probably only bought a yard or so to complete it. I do love to have applique when I'm watching TV  in the evenings with my husband.  Well, thanks for stopping by and please visit again soon.....Derrith

A Little Halloween Magic

My sister is visiting for two days so we took a few hours to wander through downtown Camas today. It was blustery and showery and quite perfect for finding all the fun halloween decor in the little vintage, antique and gifts shops.

My favorite is still Camas Antiques. All these pictures of from there. The different vendors have out done themselves with vintage themed Halloween decor.

There is so much to see there...I always find a little something to take home with me. Today it was a little package of 4 types of vintage ribbon and trim...for only $4.00!

We were sad to see some of the shops we liked weren't there any more, including the quilt shop, but there were some new ones too. I hope as the economy improves (it WILL, you know) some of the empty shops will fill up again.  Thanks for visiting. See you again soon.  -Derrith

Sisters 'n' Stitches October Antics

We had such a blast as Jayna's last week. We laughed so much, my cheeks hurt! Check out this gorgeous quilt Margy made.

Darlene showed us this darling pumpkin stitchery she had finished. So Cute!

Here is another example of Barb's incredible handiwork. It was really beautiful.

These were fun items: a frames type of placemat.

Barb and Darlene had both produced these cool Subway Words panels with their embroidery machines.

Skinny Candy hid behind her darling, colorful baby quilt.

Lorali brought these blocks she is working on. We were all drooling over the the colors and fabrics.

This picture does not do justice to this darling pin cushion that Lorali made for a friend of hers. She felted this pink wool and it looks like a scoop of sherbet. Irresistible!

This is my quilt that I just got back from my quilter. This was a loooooong term project for me.

Oregon Coasting

We had such a lovely, relaxing time in Lincoln City, OR.  We were the guests of our dear friends, Ron and Doretta Haubrich. One thing we love to do when we are visiting the coast is drive around and explore. We came upon this great beach house. I would have loved to get a closer pic of the colorful chairs, but didn't have the nerve to knock on their door.

As we found higher ground, we got a view of an inlet we didn't know existed. They should call this "Driftwood Beach"

Getting this picture made me a bit nervous. The ground in the foreground of the pic, is a sheer drop off to the rocks and beach, far, far below.

These are our hosts, on the balcony of their condo at the Worldmark Resort in Depoe Bay, OR.

Here is Gary and I. The weather was spectacular the whole time we were there. Turns out, they were the last lovely days we will see for a while. Now that we're home, the rains have started.

...one of the roads we were exploring. Doretta and I both jumped out of the car to take this picture. We loved how the sun dappled the road. 

Views from the Portland Quilt Show

There were so many beautiful, amazing quilts at this years show. Here are just a few of my favorites. I hope you can appreciate the details.  I wish I knew who to give credit to for these masterpieces.

I loved the brilliant colors and the fanciful border.

I thought this one was so fun and beautifully done. See a close-up below.

They had several Fairy Tale themed quilts, which appealed to me, of course. I find faces are so hard to do and this one was so perfect.

Such amazing detail on this one. Loved it! I've been out of town and then under the weather for a week or so, but I'm back and have lots to share, so I hope you'll visit again soon.  -Derrith

Gift Wrapping Philosophy and Birthday Bear

As you might guess from the name of my blog, I love gift wrapping. My friend Trish had a birthday a couple days ago, so I got to wrap her gift. It's tough times for us gift wrappers, what with gift cards and gift bags. It's actually kind of rare for people to receive a gift in a gift box anymore, but I do my best to carry on the tradition. Many have asked me why I would go to so much trouble and expense. Well, besides the fact that I love to do it, I consider it part of the gift!  I must say that I DO appreciate those who are gentle about removing the bow and want to keep it and re-use it. To see pretty gift wrapping and bows go in the trash is a bit painful for me.

Now on to the gift. Trish loves Teddy Bears, so I found a cute Teddy Bear image and turned it into an applique.

I added the wavy border to finish off the dishtowels. Pretty cute, I think. She liked them too.  My big mistake was to wrap them in my old ipad box. I forgot to tell her it wasn't an ipad before she unwrapped it, so, cute as they are, they aren't much of a substitute for trendy electronics!

Finishing a couple UFOs

My friend and machine quilter friend, Roberta said her quilting group has challenged each other to finish 10 UFOs (Unfinished Objects) by April. All of hers are quilts, so that's a tall order. I decided I needed to do the same, only not all my UFOs are quilts (although some are) The first was this pair of hot pads left over from a previous project. I thought I was done, but just realized I still have to sew a little loop on them.

I found this fun bird fabric and decided to use the bird motif and create an applique for  the dish towel. I have always used white dishtowels, but I'm having fun with these unbleached muslin ones.

Here you can see the fabric a little better. I just finished them yesterday and they are down at the OLIVE KAT for sale.  I have 3 quilts in progress right now. There is one that is very nearly done and I will be able to show you soon. The others are a bit of a challenge but I am determined to finish. Please enjoy this lovely October and stop by again.  Thank you!